Largs Viking Link

Why are Vikings connected with Largs?

During the Autumn of 1263 a Viking king, King Haakon IV sailed into the
waters off Largs with a huge fleet. He wanted to capture more land and add the
islands of Cumbrae and Bute to his Kingdom. The Scottish King of the time, King
Alexander knew of the impending battle, so he filled all his castles in the West
with armed men and also had an army ready and waiting at Camphill on the Haylie
Brae.which lies between Largs and Kilbirnie.

On the 1st of October 1263, storms raged over Largs. The Viking longships
were blown ashore. A battle took place, called The Battle of Largs, between the
Vikings and the Scots. The battle site lay between the beach, the road to
Fairlie and Broomfields. The Scottish army managed to force the Vikings back to
their ships. This was the last raid by Vikings on mainland Scotland. According
to tradition on the night of the attack a barefoot Norseman stepped on a thistle
and cried out in pain. This alerted the Scots and helped them win the battle.
Other sources of information suggest, it was a hard fought battle with many
killed or wounded on both sides and it was not clear who had won.

In 1912 "the Pencil" was built to remind the people of Largs of the
battle. Every year the Larg's Viking link is celebrated with a Viking festival.
A Viking village is built, the battle of Largs is re-enacted and a great
fireworks display takes place at the Pencil, which marks the place of the battle
site.

Many place names in Largs use Viking words, for example Haco Street, after
King Haco and Danefield Avenue after the Viking language Danish.

Also built recently is the Vikingar, a visitors centre which tells the
story of Viking raids on Scotland.Updated September 8, 1996- by The
Viking Network